1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of furniture for recreational vehicles including self-contained motorized vehicles as well as trailers hauled by pickup trucks and other vehicles, and more particularly to folding RV furniture, namely, a foldable sofa/bed and a foldable table seating/bed that will fold relatively flat against side walls of the recreational vehicle to maximize the floor space for storage of motorcycles, dune buggies, other motorized vehicles, and other gear during travel.
2. Description of Related Arts
In recent years, new styles of recreational vehicles and trailers (hereinafter "RVs") have been developed that include extra an wide rear door or doors that swing open or drop down to permit dune buggies, two, three and four-wheel motorcraft, and other items to be carried inside the RV during travel, which items can be easy stowed and unstowed. After the RV user arrives at the site, the wide door or doors of the RV are opened and the carried items are moved out of the RV. In order to maximize the space inside of the RV available for storing these various items, tables, seating, bedding, and the like are best moved out of the way and stowed away. In order to set up the tables, seating, beds, etc., after the carried items are moved out of the RV, the user will typically need to spend a considerable amount of time and effort to remove the tables, seating, beds, etc., from their stowed location in the RV and setting them up. When the user is ready to go, he or she will have to reverse the process. As a result, most users prefer not to move the parked site of the RV much.
There have been other attempts to provide folding RV furniture. U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,522 to Swihart discloses a sofa-bed assembly for RVs or vans and has a seat portion and a back portion connected together with a pair of swing arms. The other ends of the swing arms are connected to a permanently affixed floor mounted storage unit or base. Swing down support legs are provided. The swing arms allow the assembly to be positioned in a couch arrangement and in a bed arrangement. When folded, the assembly does not fold flat against the wall of the RV, and the seat back portion extends over the floor mounted storage unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,855 to Acker and U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,347 to McElmurry et al. also disclose rollover back sofa-bed arrangements. Both of these two references likewise disclose that the seat portions sit on bases sitting on the floor surface and the rollover arms are connected to the base portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,965 to Burdett discloses a folding bed assembly for a van. In the Burdett assembly, the bed folds relatively flat up against the sidewall of the van, but does not fold out into a couch. In the Burdett embodiment, legs support two sections of the bed, which automatically unfold along with the rest of the bed, as the bed is unfolded. A latch retains the folded bed up against the sidewall of the van.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,898 to Way discloses a convertible bench/bed structure and also an associated foldable table for pickup trucks. The Way convertible bench/bed structure is foldable with the seat portion and a back portion, and has foldout legs to support the bed. When folded out into its bed mode, the seat and back portions lie in a flat, horizontal orientation. When folded into its bench mode, the back portion is folded up. In its closed position, the seat and back portions are folded against each in a horizontal orientation. The Way convertible seat/bed structure includes vertically positioned U-shaped channels to which are slideably connected the seat and back portions. The Way patent also discloses a folding table that is attached to the front of the pickup truck's bed adjacent the cab of the truck.
While the above noted folding furniture are acceptable for mounting in van, pickup trucks, and the like, they are not particularly well-adapted to the newer style of RVs and trailers have been developed that include extra an wide rear door or doors. There accordingly remains a need for a sturdy, easy to fold and unfold furniture adapted for use in recreational vehicles including trailers.